Turning Tables

Prologue

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who practically lived for playing with her friend. His mom was best friends with her mom, so they saw each other a lot. They would have fun and run around outside, using their imaginations to conquer the world.

She thought they were best friends. The world could never tear apart anyone so close together. Secretly, she was hoping that never happened for a different reason. She was in love with this kid. He was nice, unlike many of the other 8-year-olds she knew, and he played with her. What more could a 6-year-old girl ask for?

Time ticked by, and the two best friends found themselves changing. One of them became a fifth grader who spent all of her spare time in the library, basking in the glory of books. She was a straight-A student all her life, and she thought she was smarter than not being able to see one of her best friends turning into something she wanted nothing to do with. It isn't like she didn't want to play sports; she actually loved basketball, which was a trait passed on from her father.

The boy, however, turned into an athlete. He was good at a lot of sports, but he loved basketball. As a seventh-grader, he got his first girlfriend. A week later, they broke up. He was a player from the start, but she was dumb enough to continue loving him for who he used to be.

In time, they found that they were not seeing each other in person anymore. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions for her, but she didn't think he really cared. They would text and have conversations, but it wasn't the same. There was no more imagination in him, or, at least, none that she saw. She finally found it in her to confess how she felt, but nothing came out of that. She couldn't argue. How could he ever see her the way she used to see him?

Unfortunately, her self-confidence had gone down the drain in the third grade, so she understood why he didn't want her. She slowly got over him. When they saw each other, she didn't flirt or try to make herself known to this boy who didn't know she existed anymore. She was a friend, but she knew now that she would never be anything more.

High school came at a rapid pace. He thrived socially; everyone knew the star of the basketball team. Her freshman year was rough. She was at a new school with people she didn't know, and she was already self-conscious. Even at her school, she heard stories about the basketball star from the high school on the other side of town. Now, instead of listening intently to everything, she tried to tune out any mention of him.

Over the summer, when her parents found out she didn't have a whole ton of friends, they moved her to his school. They didn't even tell her until the week before school started. She was not happy. The rest of the story is twisty and complicated. It's easier for me to tell you in first-person. That girl is me, Abigail Hudson; I prefer to be called Abby. That boy used to be my friend, Jacob Fletcher, but I didn't even know who he was anymore. Now, with that, we can dive into my first day of school, sophomore year.